Soft Love
by A-rav
Summary: The first practice of the softball season should have been a normal one, but things aren't going the way start player and team captain Weiss expected.


**Author's Note- We have another White Rose one-shot, I had fun writing this one I learned a lot about softball. This is an early birthday fic for my friend Dani, snow-white-and-little-red on Tumblr. She is an awesome friend and great RPer so I wanted to write a story for her birthday and she asked for White Rose. Thank you to my friend Jen for helping me with the idea for the story, correcting any softball related mistakes I made, and making the awesome cover art for this story. Jen's Tumblr is jen-iii and you should check out her awesome art, seriously it's really fucking good. As always thank you to my awesome friend LazyKatze for editing, she does an amazing job and I recommend you check her stories out as well they are pretty great. So happy early birthday Dani and I hope you enjoy the story!**

* * *

The afternoon sun beat down on the back of Weiss' neck. Practice hadn't even started yet and already she was sweating. _It must be at least a hundred degrees out _Weiss thought with annoyance. Her ponytail felt heavy against her back,like it was dragging her entire head down. It was Hell week for the softball team, and in this heat it really would be like Hell, but even still Weiss wouldn't make practice easy for her team. The captain wiped her arm across her forehead to dry her forehead a little bit as she waited for the rest of the team to come out onto the field. Weiss was the team's pitcher and captain, the youngest one the softball team had seen in at least a decade since she was only a sophomore when she had become captain.. Weiss was a naturally talented pitcher and combined with her strict adherence to her workouts in and out of season meant it was no surprise that she was one of the top pitchers in the state.

The rest of the team slowly made their way out of the nice, air conditioned school and onto the hot field that the baseball and softball teams shared, grumbling the entire time about how hot it was as they lined up in front of Weiss. All of them were wearing their red and green Beacon High School uniforms. Weiss was wearing the same uniform with a small mark to indicate that she was the team captain.

"Alright girls, I know it's hot out, but let's just get through practice and then we can get out of this—" Weiss started saying before a school door crashed open and another girl ran out onto the field.

"I'm sorry, I got lost in the halls and I didn't know where the locker room was and then I tripped—-" The newcomer stammered out, her face almost as red as her hair from embarrassment. Weiss was so stunned that she just stared at the girl, not sure how to respond to this bizarre situation. Thankfully, someone did. One of the other juniors walked over to Weiss.

"Sorry Weiss, this is my little sister, Ruby. I know she may seem a little off, but just wait till you see her play. She is one hell of a catcher," Yang whispered, having to lean down to do so, much to Weiss' chagrin at the reminder of her less than impressive height.

Sighing Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to stifle the irritation she felt at the new player. "Tell me Ruby, how did you get lost in the hallways?"

"Oh, well… I'm a freshman and I still haven't really learned the layout of the school and today was my first time trying to find the locker room by myself and Yang gave me directions, but either she is bad at giving directions or I'm bad at following them 'cause they didn't—"

"Enough, I get it!" Weiss called out to silence the talkative rookie, the older girls snickering at their captain's obvious exasperation. Taking a minute to compose herself Weiss looked around at the giggling girls. "I don't know what you all are laughing at, and I'm certain it isn't the extra three laps we are going to do because of Ruby," Weiss yelled loud enough to be heard over the chorus of complaining groans. The only two who didn't complain were Yang and Ruby. In fact, the new girl smiled a little bit, a gleam coming to her silver eyes as she excitedly bounced up and down.

"Alright girls, six laps around the field and I want to see you run then we start practice!" Weiss yelled as she started jogging, the other girls falling in around and behind her.

No one wanted to out right run just for the warm up laps, especially the older girls who knew exactly what Hell week would contain with Weiss as their captain. The air was still as they ran and made the run even more arduous, like running in an oven. All the girls had sweat pouring down their faces at the end of the second lap. The sixth lap was finished with a chorus of cheers from the team, happy that the first part of the workout was over. A lot of the team had slowed down at some point, only a few had maintained the same speed throughout the run. _Who would have thought that dolt wouldn't complain at all or stop to rest?_ Weiss mused when she noticed that Ruby and her sister were some of the group that hadn't slowed down, before shaking her head, not wanting to congratulate the silver eyed girl too much considering she had been late and the reason that they had run and extra three laps.

"Alright girls, now that we've finished our warm up get a drink and then it's time to actually start practice." Weiss instructed, she herself also going to go get a drink. _No sense in getting dehydrated, that would only serve to make your workout worse, _she said to herself as she took a swig from her water bottle.

Out of the corner of her eye Weiss could see the rest of her team drinking from various sized sports bottles, the two who stood out to her though were Yang and Ruby. The younger sister was talking animatedly about something, the blonde just nodding and smiling as her short red haired sister talked with her hands going in every which way. Clearly she was very passionate about what she was talking about.

"Alright girls, let's go! Break's over, we're going over to the gym for our workout now!" the short team captain yelled out, all of the girls slowly finishing their drinks before capping their bottles to try and delay the rest of practice.

They walked over to the weight room the school had, a separate building from the gymnasium in the school. Sighs of relief sounded among the team as they stepped into the air conditioned room. Everyone was already sweating from the warm up and the killer heat outside. The room was one large space with all manner of equipment and weights, the five squat racks lined the back wall while the benches and other equipment took up the space in the center.

"Don't think just because it's air conditioned you aren't going to sweat!" Weiss called over her shoulder. By this point the girls had given up on groaning, knowing it would do them no good. The younger members on the team were realizing how hard this week was going to be, all of them with looks of tiredness or resignation. All of them except for Ruby, who had that same look of excited anticipation in her eyes as she looked around the room.

"So what are we doing today captain?" Yang called out, asking the question that the entire team was thinking.

"Get with a partner so you have someone to spot you and five pairs go squat. I want to see five sets of ten reps from you girls or you are doing another set. The rest of you are doing weighted lunges across the entire weight room, across and back eight times," Weiss explained as Yang just smirked at the looks of pure exhaustion on the freshmans' faces at the thought of the workout. They all reluctantly partnered up, Yang going with a friend of her's on the team to go squat. Weiss looked at who was left to be her partner, sighing when she saw the already too familiar mop of red hair bouncing up and down with excitement.

"Yay! I get to be partners with Weiss!" the rookie cheered as she zoomed next to her partner, eager to prove herself to the upper classman.

"Let's just go. I see one of the squat racks is open," Weiss replied with resignation as she led her partner over to the empty squat rack next to the one Yang and her partner were using. Yang was the strongest on the team and on a good day could squat nearly 400 pounds, today she was going lighter and only doing 225 for her five sets.

"This is so easy!" the blonde shouted out loud enough for the entire team to hear as she racked the weight with no difficulty.

"How much do you want on, Weiss?" Ruby asked loud enough to be heard over her sister, standing on the opposite side of the rack next to the assorted weights and waiting to grab whatever weight the blue eyed girl asked for. Weiss considered the question for a moment, thinking how much to do without killing her legs for the rest of the practice but still enough to make the exercise worth doing.

"Put on 185" Weiss said, as her and Ruby put on the necessary plates. Weiss stepped up to the bar, resting it on her shoulders before lifting off with Ruby waiting behind her to spot in case she failed. The team captain dropped down with perfect form before shooting back up, already feeling the burn in her legs but still able to go.

Weiss pushed out her ten reps with relative ease, racking the bar again before turning to look at Ruby.

"What do you want on?"

"Oh, this is good!" Ruby chirped happily as her and Weiss traded places.

Weiss looked dubiously at Ruby's back as the girl stretched her legs a little bit before she got under the bar. _There is no way this freshman can do this weight. She'll get like four reps and then fail. I should be ready to spot her._

Ruby unracked the bar and took a few steps back, widening her feet before she went down. She squatted with almost perfect form and Weiss was surprised when the younger girl got past the fourth rep and continued past the fifth rep and then kept going until she pushed out her tenth. Weiss had an open expression of amazement, thoroughly impressed with the redhead's performance. After the tenth rep Ruby walked forward and carefully racked the weight as quietly as she could before stepping out from underneath the bar and turning to look at her partner.

"How did I do Weiss?" Ruby asked happily, excitedly looking at her team captain with an expression reminiscent of an overgrown puppy. Weiss quickly hid her impressment with one of indifference.

"Your form was a little off, your knees came a little too far forward, but otherwise that was good," Weiss replied, instead of looking crestfallen like Weiss expected the red haired girl just nodded.

"Alright, I'll work on it!" she enthusiastically replied, stepping out of the squat rack so Weiss could go for her second set.

* * *

"C'mon ladies, last part of practice. We're going to give you guys a break! Older members take five while I practice and test out the rookie. Then we'll practice hitting before we end practice with five laps, " Weiss instructed, looking around as the the other girls partnered up. They had taken a break so they could grab any equipment needed for the end of practice. Immediately Ruby was next to her, in full catcher's gear. Even through the helmet Weiss could see the bright, eager smile on the younger girl's face. Weiss could only sigh before nodding to the catcher's area. The red haired girl jogged over there as fast as she could in the bulky protection the catcher's gear that she wore. Weiss took a much slower pace compared to Ruby as she made her way to the pitcher's mound. Reaching the flat area designated for her, Weiss turned her back and tipped her hat up slightly by the brim.

"You ready newbie!?" the white haired captain called out.

A vigorous nod from the masked girl opposite her the only answer she received.

"Here we go then!" _I'll go easy on her to start, though that may still be too tough, _Weiss thought to herself, gripping the ball as she prepared to throw it.

She threw a fastball straight down the center, but her fastball was one of the fastest ones in the state, so even for an easy pitch it was hard to catch. All set to tell Ruby to try harder, the sound of the ball smacking against leather was a surprise to Weiss.

"Yeah! Good going little sis!" Yang called from her spot on the bench as Ruby tossed the ball back to Weiss.

Deftly catching it, Weiss conceded that this girl was an adequate catcher. _Time to ramp up the difficulty. _Readjusting her hold on the ball Weiss threw a rise, fully expecting her teammate to be unable to catch the more difficult pitch. Again Weiss was greeted to the sound of the ball hitting leather. A moment later the ball was back in her hands. Forcing herself to hide her shock, Weiss decided to really test the rookie, again her grip on the ball changed as she threw a screwball. Ruby easily caught the ball right as it changed direction, quickly tossing it back to her captain. _She is going to catch this, _Weiss thought, wanting to see the younger girl fail this time. Taking a deep breath Weiss decided to throw her best pitch, a drop ball one of the hardest pitches to catch and her personal best. The ball flew through the air with all the speed of a fast ball and Weiss could see Ruby preparing to catch such a pitch and a smug sense of satisfaction filled her knowing the girl had misjudged it. At the last second the ball suddenly dropped. Weiss was prepared to hear the sound of the ball hitting dirt only to hear and see the redhead catch it.

"Wow, that was an amazing throw, Weiss! I barely caught it!" Ruby called at her as she tossed the ball back. Weiss caught it limply, dismayed that her best pitch had been caught by the new player on the team.

"That's enough for now," she said weakly. The rest of the girls stood up to get ready for hitting and fielding practice. Weiss went about the rest of practice a little dejectedly and the smile Ruby flashed her every time they met eyes didn't help to improve her mood.

* * *

The girls filed out of the weight room, exhausted as they chatted among themselves. Weiss sat on a bench catching her breath as she waited for the rest of the team to leave, they had finished practice and had come back to the weight room to grab their stuff. _First one in and last one out, I especially don't want to see that Rose girl _she thought to herself, taking another drink from her water bottle. Hanging her head, Weiss sat on the bench, waiting until the sounds of footsteps and chatter faded and disappeared. Looking up, Weiss was surprised to see that she wasn't alone in the weight room, a certain silver eyed girl was looking at her.

"Why are you still here, Ruby?" Weiss asked tiredly, dropping her head into her hands as she heard the girl walk to stand in front of her. There was a moment of silence as she waited for the red haired girl to respond.

"I-I… I just wanted to say... How much I admire you!" Ruby stammered out, finishing her sentence practically shouting as if it was by sheer force of will that she said the words.

"Wha… what do you mean 'admire'?" Weiss asked in confusion. She didn't know what the younger girl could admire. As far as she could remember this was the first time they had ever met.

"Well, I think you are a really amazing softball player. I've seen you play loads of times. I would come to watch the games since Yang was on the team and I always saw the amazing white haired pitcher. I was so excited to be a freshman this year 'cause it meant I could be on the same team as you!" Ruby chirped talking animatedly again, her hands moving to emphasize her words.

It was then that Weiss realized that Ruby and her sister had been talking about Ruby's excitement to be on the softball team with Weiss. The team captain didn't know how to respond to that, she had been told by others that they admired her, but coming from this excited freshman was different for Weiss.

"Why thank you, Ruby. I-I think I'll be happy to be on the same team as you," Weiss replied after a moment of hesitation.

The rookie player smiled even wider at the compliment."Yay! I'm so happy to be on the same team as you Weiss!" Leaning over she kissed Weiss on the cheek, much to the white haired girl's surprise. Her hand immediately flew to that cheek while she looked stunned at her teammate's actions. "I've always thought you were really beautiful, too, and have a bit of a crush on you," Ruby said with a shy smile, turning her head down to avoid making eye contact with her team captain and crush. Turning around she walked out of the weight room, waving over her shoulder as the door closed behind her with an reverberating thud.. Weiss just stared at the door, not knowing how to react to the younger girl's actions. Eventually a small smile curled her lips up as she thought back at how the red haired girl had acted during practice. It made sense to her now, the younger girl had spent the entire practice trying to impress Weiss and hoping to get the older girl's attention. The thought made her chuckle a little bit at how hard the freshman girl had pushed herself to prove herself to her crush.

_Well, she did earn my respect and if she plays her cards right she might earn more was cute after all. _


End file.
